52. Creepy Hallows End!

Text for the audio segment "Off the Beaten Path" on Epic Dolls Podcast # 52

CREEPY! HALLOWS END
Deathknights are coming soon, and its October, so let’s talk about the creepiest places in World of Warcraft.

PLACES TO SEE
To continue with World Exploration, These are my top five creepiest places to visit in World of Warcraft.

5 Coming in at number five for creepiness, is walking around inside the Karazhan instance by yourself after areas have been cleared. The architecture is wonderful but something about the place feels extremely spooky, as if some thing will be jumping out at you at any time. The convoluted hallways leading up to Aran, are probably the highlight…be sure to look straight up.

4 Positioned at the Number four on my list of creepy spots is the Amber Web pass on Blood Myst Island, one of the Draenei starting areas. Something about those scary looking spiders and webs strung all over the place, makes me want to get out a huge can of raid.

3 Coming in at Number three on my list has to be Darrowshire in Eastern Plaguelands. According history, during the second war, Darrowshire was attacked by a Scourge regiment led by the ghoul lord Horgus the Ravager and the death knight Marduk Blackpool. Darrowshire is ruined village that appears haunted by sadness and loss. It is said that the people who fell here wander aimlessly through plaguelands as ghouls.

2 Number 2 as one of the creepiest spots to visit has to be Silithus, which located in the south western corner of Kalimdor. Silithus was once the grand empire of the race known as Aqiri. To us, it is infested with giant swarming insects called silithids and in the middle of the zone is their HUGE main hive – they are buzzing and flying all around it. This brings back every nightmare of bee and wasp stings when I was kid. Don’t forget to visit their pulsating Silithid tunnels all around the zone…those definitely raises the ick factor for me.


1 The Number 1 creepiest spot to me has to be the - Apothecarium in the southwest corner of Undercity. This is by far one of the most demented places in WoW. There are twisted parts of bodies hanging on chains from the ceiling, and electrical currents and arcing from the metallic spindles. This place is like Doctor Frankenstein meet Jack Skellington of Nightmare Before Christmas.
These were my top five creepiest spots. If you would like to submit your creepiest spots and have them aired on the next episode, write us here at epicdolls and title it “creepiest spots” for Stardancer.

Unusual Quests
If you are working on Quest achievements, Let’s talk about spooky quests.

When you happen to be visiting Darrowshire, Eastern Plaguelands, you may encounter a small house on the eastern side. The single inhabitant of these dismal ruins, is the ghostly form of a young girl playing in the front room. She does not realize she is dead. If you start conversing with her she says…

My auntie Marlene told me to stay here in our house because my father had to go and fight. My father's the bravest man in the whole world! But I've been here for a long time, and he hasn't come for me. Sometimes bad people come and whisper to me and I want my dad to make them go away, but he's not here! And sometimes when it gets dark I want to play with my doll but I can't because I left it in town. Will you find my doll for me?

Finding Pamela’s Doll begins with a quest entitled “Little Pamela” given by the ghost Marlene Redpath at Sorrow Hill in Western Plaguelands. This is not only a spooky quest, but a heart wrenching epic tale of what happened to her father.

Role Playing Tips
For Role Playing Tips this week, I want to give a shout out to Moon Guard Server. For the past two and half weeks, I began characters on both alliance and horde to test out the role-playing climate on Moon Guard a RP server. It was pretty amazing. There were role-players in Brill, on the street to Lordaeron, they were in the courtyard, and inside the city, there was role playing inside Silvermoon, and outside on the road, the courtyards, and even down by the lake ---and even in newbie zones. I found people willing to role-play on both horde and alliance sides.

Adding the mod FlagRSP2 helped me a great deal as I could easily identify other role players and join in.

This is a server with a population that earnestly maintains a RP climate there. If you are serious about role playing, this seems to be a great place to try.

Music: All music from the game

51. Herod, Carlos, and Story Nights

Text for the audio segment "Off the Beaten Path" on Epic Dolls Podcast # 51

Whew! It has been a few weeks and SO much is happening. The release of Wrath of the Lich King coming out in November 13…and I can hardly wait. So, let’s keep filling in those maps for World Exploration!

PLACES TO SEE
This next place to travel and see comes from one of our listeners --Kever the Warlock from Uldum server ---who wrote in to remind us about the Caverns of Time instance “Escape from Durnholde Keep.” The instance in the Caverns of Time takes you back about seven years in Old Hillsbrad Foothills history.

In addition to the quest part of the instance which resides in Durnholde Keep, there are other areas of the zone are open for exploration at anytime including Tarren Mill and Southshore --Technically called Old Hillsbrad Foothills. There is a traveling merchant named Thomas Yance, who walks from Southshore to Tarren Mill and back again. He sells the Riding Crop leather recipe and is available for armor repairs.

But what is interesting about Old Hillsbrad is the NPC quest stars who inhabit the small towns. For example, in Tarren Mill two children are running around… Jay and Julie. In present day, Jay is Jason Lemieux a forsaken mushroom vendor who wanders Tarren Mill and Julie Honeywell becomes a young mage apprentice in Southshore.

Of more notable interest are Kel’thuzad and Helcular who are still human in this part of history. Kel’thuzad you may remember is an ArchLich of Plaguelands. If you follow with them and their dialogue, you can get an idea of their mind-set which resulted in their decent into lich-dom. Also in Southshore is a variety of children that have names you may recognize such as Sally Whitemane, Renault Morgraine, and Herod the Bully who are bosses that you encounter in present day Scarlet Monastery. There are quite a few other notables around these towns, but I will leave that exploration up to you.

Unusual Quests
While you are doing Old Hillsbrad Foothills…there is quest called Don Carlos Famous hat or simply “Nice Hat.”

In patch 2.4.3 an NPC that was added outside Gadgetzan in the grave yard named Don Carlos. He starts a quest called “Nice Hat” at level 68. Don Carlos challenges you to defeat his younger self in Old Hillsbrad Foothills. In regular mod, you win just his hat, on heroic mode, the hat has a clickable feature which will allow you to summon a coyote spirit. The rest of Don Carlos’ outfit can be made by a tailor…and voila! You have a complete Zorro outfit for parties!

Role Playing Tips
One of our listeners was on hiatus from WoW for a while and came back to the game recently. When he returned to his RP server he felt a little bit out of the loop. He had some really great questions …

• How do Role-Players find RP on their realm...or any realm?
• And how do players and guilds increase RP opportunities?

Thanks Sean, for writing to us.

With any long term game, the dynamics and game play itself start to become a bit of a grind. KEEPING THINGS FRESH is probably the number one key to longevity in the game and in role-play. Aspects that help keep a game fresh and new is in the discovery of

• new places
• discovery of new players
• changing outfits
• changing what a character looks like
• and exploration of new and interesting class, trade, or skill sets.

Blizzard has recognizes that players need a little bit more than the grind –and implement new things all the time from fishing competitions, Darkmoon faire, season events-- and with expansions comes new classes, new talents, new trade skill, and ways to change existing characters such as new hairstyles and the barber shops. So, in a sense patch 3.0 and the new expansion in some ways will make Warcraft fresh and new. This will open opportunities for player interactions…and possibly a role play renaissance.

That’s great Star, but HOW do you find these role-players?
I interviewed Tharion Greyseer (Epic Dolls #31 iTunes URL) some months back and he gave some very helpful advice about this very topic. He said the first thing to do is to start reading through posts at the various role-play server forums at worldofwarcraft.com. If you read through the posts regularly, such as once a day… you can weed through the ramble and recognize stories, character ideas, people looking for other role-players, and posts about upcoming role-play events which are organized by players and guilds for both Alliance and Horde. If you start attending some of these events even if you aren’t active at first, you can get a great idea of the style and nuance of the role-players to see if this group is what you are looking for.

I found everything from story circles, to huge story lines between guilds, to group gatherings at the Darkmoon Faire! I was actually surprised by the number of activities that were taking place throughout the week and had to start keeping them on my calendar. Also, please note that these types of events are organized by players…players who have lives outside of Warcraft and are giving their time to help organize events …so do participate, and participate with respect and be curteous to them and other players. How to Organize Events?
Maybe the events that other players are organizing and hosting don’t suit your own ideas…then perhaps you are interested in starting your own. Gathering people together inside a game is a challenge and is dependent on other people’s schedules and getting the word out about your event. Be sure to post your event regularly on the official server forums, bump the post up everyday so other players can read it and find it, and be consistent. What tends to draw people to places and events is continuity and regularity… even if it is just you and one other friend there at the beginning.

One of the most successful role-play events that I can recall, was a regular story night which was held every Tuesday evening. It was a tireless job, but role-players could count on it always being there because of the tireless determination of a small group of players who made a commitment to host it. Also, posting a news article after the event about what transpired is helpful as well. So, whether you want to host a regular story/poetry night or maybe a sightseeing tour be consistent, be open to other player styles, and have fun.

Music:
Music from World of Warcraft.
Seguidilla – Guitarras de Carman (Terry Muska)

49. Newmans, Tauren, and FlagRSP2

Text for the Audio Segment "Off the Beaten Path" as heard on Epic Dolls Podcast #49

Previously, we have spoken on the topic of the new Player Achievements systems which will be coming out with Wrath of the Lich King. To recap this new system ….You will be able to achieve a variety of goals in such areas as

1. excellence in professions
2. successfully completing a number of quests
3. gaining tabards and other whimsical items
4. Most importantly to Off the Beaten Path is the achievement of “World Explorer”.

Even some achievements, such as world exploration, will be applied to your character retroactively.”

PLACES TO SEE

So let’s continue clearing those maps with a few way-out-of-the-way but fascinating places to see in WoW.This next location will take you some time to get to, so be sure you have the time to travel.

This out of the way spot resides behind the hills of Stormwind on the Western coastline which is only accessible by swimming from another zone. It is basically a wooden dock with a landmark sign that reads “Newman’s Landing.” There is a table with lanterns and drinks, and sunken boat in the water below. The accommodations are sparse as the only residence is an old slat building with the remains of its previous owners inside. But there are no monsters or creatures in the area.

I first traveled to this spot by jumping into the northern ocean from Westfall and swam all the way north until I reached it. When swimming, stay close to the coastline so you don’t get fatigued.

It should be noted that if you stand in Newman's Landing, you leave all zones in Azeroth. A shift-click on a person's name will show them in the location, "Unknown", and for the location next to a character's name in a guild roster, there is simply a blank space. I ventured again to the location before this segment and click on my name in the guild menu and my character had a blank indicating the zone she was in. Neat!

As to why this place exists…There was a rumor that early in Warcraft, while new players were watching the opening scenes playing of their character’s race, their new character would briefly appear in this location before entering their respective newbie zone.

I was not able to verify if several sections on the map get cleared by coming here (like Coldridge valley for example) as I had already visited this location before. One of our listeners will have to travel there and write to us to let us know.

This next suggestion comes from a listener, Aideyn of Earthen ring, who wrote in to remind us about the Abandoned Tauren Outpost which is located on the coastline in the South Western corner of Silithus. Although it is quite the swim to get there, it is a large uninhabited area that houses a Tauren home complete with firepots, a farm, canoes, and huge trees to climb. East of the Farm on that same coastline is a rather extensive and slightly unique unhabited cavern system. A friend suggested this as a place for a thieves guild meeting (thieves with a warlock summoner in the midst might be nice.)

I traveled back to this outpost to see if any changes have been implemented to it, but its still just as peaceful and serene as the first time I encountered it. I am not sure that any map clearing happens at this location, but if you are looking for an out of the way role-play spot, guild party, or mystery dinner theatre, this is a great one.

You can reach this location by two methods, WoWwiki recommends heading west along the coastline from Land’s End Beach in Tanaris. However, I left from the shores of Feralas and swam south.

Thank you Aideyn for writing to us. Thank you Kynas for showing me this incredible place the first time.

UNUSUAL QUESTS

In addition to the world exploration achievement, don’t forget that there are also achievements in questing. So here at Off the Beaten path, we mention the unusual or out of the way quests.

On the coast of Feralas is a rather bizarre but fun quest called Zapped Giants. This quest is available to horde and alliance around level 45 or higher.

It starts with Zorbin Fandazzle who stands on the western shoreline of Feralas near the dock. He is also an engineering vendor and is affiliated with the Steamwheedle Cartel. Zorbin insists that his shrink ray uses Superior Goblin technology in its construction, so you do not need to fear being blown up by using the device even if you aren’t an engineer. So for all those meandering monstrous elite sea giants, you can simply zap them with Zorbin’s provided shrink ray, and voila! They are no longer elite and are tiny. The completion of both these quests allows you to access Zorbin’s engineering wares.

Accessing Zorbin’s goods and gaining Steamweedle faction, basically that’s it -- other than the sheer fun of zapping and smacking giants. Since the quest is repeatable, why not host a wacky guild event or a competition with players running amok all along the coast shrinking giants. Fun times!

Role Playing Tips
FlagRSP2

I have mentioned that many Role-players tend to utilize the mod FlagRSP2 when venturing into the realm to role-play. This mod allows players to create unique surnames and character descriptions that other players with the mod can read when targeting each other. This is a fascinating idea and one that is already implemented inside of other MMOs such as in City of Heroes.

When writing up one of my player’s profiles for FlagRSP2, I was slightly struck with what to write, or how to know when I have too much or not enough. To amend my lack of a profile, One of my role-play friends reminded me to use it more for a basic physical description not a character’s entire history. He also suggested the following:

Keep the description short and simple. People usually want to get right to the role-play not read three pages of character descriptions. You can save more in depth character biographies for the forums. My friend also mentioned that you should include the threes, list one physical trait, one emotional demeanor or mood, and one subtle but obscure or interesting thing that would cause other people to notice. An example would be this description of a mage below:

“A dimensional traveler and collector of artifacts and relics, this High Elf Elementalist searches the varied worlds for objects of power to study and safeguard. His manner seems focused and he speaks with low cautious tones --language and the elements are his sword and shield. His eyes are hard but shimmer with a poorly hidden note of sadness.”

In this short paragraph you know the character is a mage, a blood elf, a traveler, is educated, and has endured something grave. The “poorly hidden note of sadness” draws you in and makes you want to walk up and ask, “I noticed that you seem a little sad. Can I ask why?” --and suddenly you are role-playing.

48. Silverpine to Superman

Text for Off the Beaten Path segment featured on Epic Dolls Podcast #48

Previously, we have spoken on the topic of the new Player Achievements systems which will be coming out with Wrath of the Lich King.

To recap this new system ….You will be able to achieve a variety of goals in such areas as

• 1. excellence in professions
• 2. successfully completing a number of quests
• 3. completing world and seasonal events
• 4. reputation achievements
• 5. gaining tabards and other whimsical items
• 6. PVP and raiding
• 7. Most importantly to Off the Beaten Path is the achievement of "World Explorer".

Some achievements, including those that involve quests, items currently in your possession, skills (including professions), exploration, and reputations, will be applied to your character retroactively." For world exploration, that means the places you have visited and cleared on your world map.

PLACES TO SEE
So let's continue clearing those maps with more fascinating places to see in WoW.

Last week, I mentioned that Alliance players and Horde players may need to make a special trip to Azuremyst Island (the Draenei starting point) to sightsee and clear their maps. One of my friends mentioned that another often overlooked location for Alliance and Horde players to do some map clearing is Silverpine Forest. Many Alliance will have the road cleared due to heading up towards Scarlet Monastery or Shadowfang Keep, but there are several interesting places to visit in the zone as well.

Silverpine Forest stretches across Lordaeron's western coast was once a lush and verdant wooded glen. During the Third War, the forest was affected by the plague. The forces of the Lich King invaded the woods, setting fire to the crops and massacring its people. In the southwestern corner, the once Alliance town of Pyrewood remains almost in tact, as the humans of the village survived the onslaught of the scourge. They paid a terrible price for their determination. You will need to travel there after 9pm dawn to see what happened to the people there.

Farther south from Pyrewood is another interesting location called the Kingdom of Gilneas, which is ruled by Lord Greymane. The Lord never supported the Lordaeron Alliance in the Second War and after the war, he constructed the Greymane Wall to keep out horde and alliance alike. You can see the gate of the wall, but the wall is said to span the entire southern area, bordering off Gilneas permanently from Lord Daeron. There are humans outside the gates, which are hostile except for the one neutral weapons vendor named Wallace the Blind.

In the North eastern area of Silverpine forest, Lordamere Lake resides between the Forsaken lands of Tirisfal Glades and Silverpine Forest, and the contested lands of the Alterac Mountains. In the center of the Lake is Fenris Isle inhabited by gnolls, murlocs, and bog beasts. The ring of islands was to represent the rim of an ancient volcano. So, I took a dive to check it out.

North Tide's Run is on the North Western Shore of Silverpine. Being an Alliance druid, I had never been to this location before. Ashore, is a huge wrecked ship which is to mark the area where Horde Druids should swim out to and locate a quest item for their aquatic form. So, I challenge the horde druids to fill in their maps of the western shore of Westfall (near a huge anchor) and swim out to locate the area where Alliance druids get theirs.

UNUSUAL QUESTS
This next often overlooked quest comes from a listener email, thanks go to Bloodwyn from the Destromath server. I have mentioned this quest before briefly, but I think I will tell you more about it. Don't forget that in addition to player achievements in world exploration, there is also one for questing.

Blizzard includes all kinds of pop culture mixed into their original ideas into their world. They also tend to include historically based stories from real life. I think this encourages players to look up the information outside of the game and read it. As our listen put it, this quest is all about story and atmosphere, and shows just how much care is lavished on the story of Azeroth.

The Sully Balloo quest is based on an actual historical event. Unfortunaely, the quest is Alliance only and requires L25 to start. Hopefully, for horde players they have an alliance character around somewhere where they can do the quest.

If you swim to the bottom of the Thandol span and look around the major rubble and broken stones of the bridge, you will locate a small skeletal hand underneath one of the stones. In the hand is clutched an envelope which begins the quest.

Inside the envelope is a letter which begins:

My Dear Sara,

The indications are very strong that we shall move to take watch over the Thandol Span in a few days. Lest I shall not be able to write to you again. I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

I think I will save the rest of the heart wrenching letter for you adventurers to discover for yourselves. You follow the instructions in the quest which will take you back to Ironforge to his wife Sara Balloo.

This quest is based on the correspondence written July 14th, 1861 by a Union soldier in the American Civil War. The soldier's name was Maj. Sullivan Ballou of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers and was the final letter to his wife before the Battle of Bull Run.

In the the game, it is literally heart-wrenching to bring the letter to Sara, and the proceed with the somber tasks of notifying King Magni Bronzebeard. Afterward, you are involved in the construction of a memorial to Sully, the dwarf who risked his life at Thandol span.

As Bloodwyn notated, 'the comments from the various NPC's are wonderfully thought out and comment on love, war, and loyalty. "

Thank you for writing to us.

Role Playing Tips
Mary Sue

This next information will not only help you role play your Warcraft characters better, but if you are an aspiring author with novel ideas or action adventure films, this may help your characters there too. More recently, I have been reading and hearing about the term "Mary Sue." This refers to cliched characters that are unbelievable and stereotyped.

Wikipedia defines this:

The term describes a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors. In role-playing games, original characters may also be criticized as "Mary Sues" if they dominate the spotlight or are too unrealistic or unlikely in other ways.

I keep thinking about Superman —He is almost god-like… he's tall, beautiful, flawless, he can fly, run fast, has x-ray vision, heat-vision, cold breath, stops speeding bullets, stop a locomotives, flies into space, flies underwater, and more. When you add all that up, it begins to make him sound beyond believable. He is too many wonderful things to be believable. Marvel comics used to think the same way, so Stan Lee introduced super heroes who were more flawed and had only one or a couple of extraordinary abilities. People were able to accept these heroes and identify with them more. In my opinion, the Spiderman character is the more believable than Superman because we have all gamed with or personally know someone who is much like Peter Parker. I can't say I know anyone like Superman. A great flawed character is X-men's Rogue, who has a tremendous power but is unable to touch people or express herself physically.

I know when we enter Warcraft and figuratively put on our Nightelf or Tauren costumes, our characters allow us to be heroic in many ways. The idea in Role-playing is to not be so heroic that we are too superman. As you craft your role-playing character, make sure your character doesn't slip into the Mary Sue mold. Using simple flaws that you can recognize is such heroes in Marvel comics, favorite novels, and movies can help you.

Special thanks: rpmadesimple.org on Mary Sue

Have fun everyone!

47. Azuremyst to Wonder Woman

Text for Off the Beaten Path featured on Epic Dolls Podcast #47

WORLD EXPLORATION
Last week we talked about the new Player Achievements systems which will be coming out with Wrath of the Lich King. I like this new system, as it will appeal more widely to the variety of players.

To recap this new system …You will be able to achieve a variety of goals in such areas as excellence in professions, successfully completing a number of quests, completing world and seasonal events, reputation achievements, gaining tabards and other whimsical items, PVP and raiding --- BUT most importantly to Off the Beaten Path is the achievement of "World Explorer".

"Some achievements, including those that involve quests, items currently in your possession, skills (including professions), exploration, and reputations, will be applied to your character retroactively.

PLACES TO SEE
So let's continue clearing those maps with places to see.

World events like the Summer Fire Festival encourage players to travel to far away places to obtain items, or to start or put out a fire. These different events are just a few great ways you can clear areas on your world maps. However, unless you play a Draenei character then players of Alliance and Horde alike a place may need to make a special trip to explore Azuremyst Islands.

While the main Island is the primary location and historically is where the Exodar ship crash landed, there are several other Islands in the vicinity that should also be included in your travels. Ammen Vale is the starting zone for the Draenei and is located across the Ammen Ford off the Eastern side. If you are circling the vale to fill in your map, don't miss heading up into the hillside of the south eastern corner into Nestlewood Hills.

The Exodar's crash was halted by a mountain located on the Western coast. If you travel north and then west around the back of the Exodar, this will lead travelers and Shamans to an almost hidden path leading up to the top--this area is called Wildwind Peak. Other spots on the main island are Emberglade coast in the east and Stillpine Hold in the central area. In the south west corner, the Naga have a series of ruins and inhabit a network of tunnels. Off the south west corner shoreline is Silvermyst Island which was once a night elf fishing village.

Several parts of the Exodar ship landed on the island located in the North which caused all kinds of havoc on the wildlife and vegetation – the island is now called Bloodmyst. Several spots of interest include a small island called Wyrmscar located off the North eastern shore which is home to the ghost dragon, Razormaw. Another small island just south of that one is Bloodcurse Island, filled with Naga and the shrine they worship. A notable creature who resides on Bloodmyst is the giant spider known as Zarakh—she is located in the winding hillside of Amberweb Pass. For hunters, the spiders that inhabit the area offers an opportunity to tame a unique looking pet.

An interesting bit of history involves the Vector Coil located West central of Bloodmyst. Bloodelf invaders had come to the island to feed and otherwise harnass energy leaking from the broken shards of the crashed ship. They are lead by an Eredar named Sironas.

UNUSUAL QUESTS
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the International Comicon in San Diego California. It was an awesome event and it is worth it for everyone to go to at least once. I was happy to see that World of Warcraft was there and that they presented a world wide debut of figurines as well as offered fans a place to play the Warcraft card game together. So, to further extend the fun of the Comicon I thought I would present quests or NPCs with comics, heroes, or similar reference. Enjoy~

#1. SAMOPHLANGE
The reference is from the 80's cartoon called the Thundercats .
Panthro, says the following line, "And keep your foot off that blasted Samophlange!"
Since then, Samophlange has come to be defined as any piece of sensitive technical equipment that may or may not actually exist.

Samophlange the WoW quest, begins with Sputtervalve who is located in Ratchet.
================================================================================
#2. SUPERMAN
In the small town of Southshore is a small farm who is tended by Farmer Kent. This references Clark Kent who grew up on the Kent farm in Kansas until he left for the city of Metropolis and became Superman. Farmer Kent is seen in both Hillsbrad and in Old Hillsbrad Caverns of Time instance. http://www.wowwiki.com/Farmer_Kent
==============================================================================
#3. The Transformers
Maybe a slight stretch, but for Transformers fans, the names Ironside and Grimlock represent Transformers. Ironhide who fought against the Decepticons and Grimlock is T-rex who is the leader of the Dinobots.

In Warcraft, a trog named Grimlok resides inside Uldaman and quotes, "Me Grimlok, KING!" which is a direct transformer reference. Grimlok is a T-rex dinobot, so interestingly enough there is an Ironhide Dinosaur in Un'Goro crater.
==================================================================================
#4. MAN-THING or SWAMPTHING
In the 70's Stan Lee and Marvel Comics created, The Man-Thing. Looking at the cover of issue #1 and then looking at the image of the WoW Bog Beast, you can easily see the reference.

In Warcraft --Bog beasts are classified in World of Warcraft as Elementals and look like swamp monsters. You can find Bog Beasts and similar type creatures in Teldrassil), and Swamp of Sorrows, and Menthil Harbor.
=============================================================================
#5. Wonder Woman
In the 70's there was a Wonder Woman series starring Lynda Carter. Wonder Woman's secret identity is Diana Prince who spins to transform into Wonder Woman. She has a golden lasso she wraps around enemies to force them to tell the truth.

In Warcraft – Wonder Woman is referenced by the captured Arko'narin in the Shadow Hold of Jaedenar, Felwood. You release this female night elf from her cage and escort her to where her armor and weapon are stored. She spins many times and then suddenly appears in her armor. Arko'narin quotes: "All I need now is a golden lasso"
=========================================================================
#6 HE-MAN, Masters of the Universe.
The main character is Prince Adam also known as He-Man who is from a plant called Eternia.

In Warcraft ---An NPC Arathi Basin Battlemaster in Shattrath City wears the same clothes of He-Man from the 80's film, and next to him is his Battle-Tiger or Battle cat, which resembles He-Man's mount Cringer. In closed beta, this NPC was named Adam Heman, but it was changed to Adam Eternum. The NPC says something about a grey skull -- Greyskull is the castle from where He-Man obtained his powers.

Shattrath City - Terrace of Light on the Lower City side.
=========================================================================
# 7. Dr. Doom
In Marvel Comics – Dr. Doom is the Monarch of Latveria and resides with his Doom Bots. He is also one of the main villains in Fantastic Four and X-Men.

In Warcraft – the NPC: Dr. Boom & Boom Bots reside in Netherstorm - outside Area 52 at Camp of Boom
=============================================================================
# 8. Manimal
In the early 80's there was a TV series about a shape-shifting man who can turn himself into any animal, and uses this ability to fight crime.

In Warcraft, druids shape-shift. There is a quest in Shadowmoon Valley offered by Earthmender Torlok called Enraged Spirits of the Air, and one of the quest rewards is Manimal's Cinch for druids.


Special thanks goes to BlizzPlanet for these the above quests.

Have fun everyone!

46. World Explorer

Text for "Off the Beaten Path" on [Epic Doll Podcast # 46]

Blizzard really does listen to their players. It does take them some time to develop and implement new ideas, but we have to give a nod where it is due.

In an effort to make the game appeal to a wider array of player styles than just pvp and raiding, in the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, a new system called “Player Achievements” will be introduced. This will help the game stay fresh and interesting to players and accomplishments will be viewable on the Armory. You will be able to achieve a variety of goals in such areas as excellence in professions, successfully completing a number of quests, completing world and seasonal events, reputation achievements, gaining a certain number of tabards and other whimsical items, as well as PVP and raiding. But the one that stood out to me, was that you can achieve the goal of “World Explorer”. Finally, something for those of us who enjoy sight seeing! Yes!

Blizzard writes:

“World Exploration: You’ll earn achievements by exploring each zone in the game -- and get meta-achievements when you fully explore a continent. Unlocking all World Exploration achievements unlocks a World Explorer meta achievement. Some achievements, including those that involve quests, items currently in your possession, skills (including professions), exploration, and reputations, will be applied to your character retroactively.”

What that means in terms of World Exploration is probably how much of all over your maps have been explored and cleared.

PLACES TO SEE
So in honor of the World Exploration player achievements, let’s clear those maps and discover your inner sight see-er.

If you are Alliance some places you may need to fill in the map for is the wonderful green plains of Mulgore, the home of the Tauren. You can easily circle the zone and even pick up Thunderbluff on your map without entering the city, just ride in the valley under bridged areas of the city. Note you will get flagged when you get near the city.

Another spot for Alliance players is definitely the Barrens. Most Alliance players have cleared just the area from Ashenvale down the road to Ratchet to get the flight path. This would account for the reason many Alliance players aren’t familiar with Wailing Caverns instance, Razor Fen instances, or the Koiter monument atop one of the mountains.

Another interesting spot to clear on your map …is to head down the West road from Crossroads, past Honor’s stand, and head into Greatwood Vale of Stonetalon Mountains. For Horde characters, there is small town called Malaka’Jin located on the southern side, which until I played a horde character I never knew existed.

Stonetalon Mountains is definitely a large area with all kinds of places to see and clear on your map. It is located South of Ashenvale, due west of the Barrens , and North of Desolace. It is long network of peaks with isolated areas, but in each of those areas you will find an array of creatures and quests, as well as rare or unique creatures who offer above average treasure. For Alliance and Horde alike this location is a long journey to get a flight path for --For Horde the Flight Path is in Sunrock retreat, for Alliance it is in Stonetalon Peak

An interesting note about Harpies…. · Stonetalon Mountains was originally the home are for Harpies. · Legend has it that harpies descened from night elf women who were cursed by Queen Azshara. · Harpies can be found in the following zones: Teldrassil, The Stonetalon Mountains, Feralas, Mulgore, Thousand Needles, Alterac Valley, The Barrens, and Durotar.

Stonetalon Mountains offers an array of quests, the neurtal faction quests can be gathered in Ratchet. Alliance can gather quests in Ashenvale and in Stonetalon Peak, while Horde has the largest sum of quests for the zone. Quests start at Greatwood Vale, all the way into Sunrock Retreat.

UNUSUAL QUESTS
Caer Darrow is the seemingly abandoned town and island which Scholomance towers overlook in Western Plaguelands. There is a curse on the town…you can hear people conversing as you venture through the main square. You glance around the area but you don’t see anything…it is a curious and haunted place. If can see and interact with the ghosts, you will a merchant there who sells several alchemy and blacksmithing recipes. So how can you see the ghosts? The quest reward called spectral essences allows you to see the ghosts who live in this town. The quest series is offered by Eva Sarkhoff at the entrance to Scholomance


ROLE PLAYING TIPS
PROPS

This week’s role-playing tips come from our friends at rpmadesimple.org, who wrote about completing quests, even a low level one in order to get the item to use a prop for your character. Props can be used in a variety of ways, your character can sit at table that has one of the lore books, and your character can be engrossed in the novel, or your character can be holding an object, even a tome in some cases. These held objects are usually crafted items, merchant bought or quest rewards. They can be anything from a red rose to a wrench.

One of the props mentioned was a cross faction quest offered by a ghost, Captain Greyson located at the lighthouse off the southern coast of Westfall. At completion of his quest, he gives you a torch, which is a neat little prop that illuminates around itself when your character is in a dark place or at night.

We would love to hear about other unusual objects and items you have come across in Warcraft that would make great character props. Feel free to email me at stardancerelf@gmail.com.

45. Primordial Places and Chance

Text for OFF THE BEATEN PATH on [Epic Dolls Podcast #45]

Patch 2.4.3 is out and the first thing I did was get a mount for characters around level 30. I think that characters such as priests and warriors who don’t have sprint, blink, travel forms, aspect of cheetah, or a free summoned mounts can truly benefit from earlier mounts. It also makes sense to lower the mount level due to the array of quests in the level 30s which require you to travel from zone to zone to zone to collect and deliver quest items.

As far as exploring off the beaten path? Well… this is fanatastic! You can travel more easily at earlier levels! Not only is traveling easier, but also is the ability to work on gathering trade skills. Thanks Blizzard.

PLACES TO SEE
In between the grind of doing dailies and leveling several alts, it is nice to travel about the countryside and see the world. That’s what “off the beaten path” segment is all about, taking time to stop and smell the proverbial peace-blossoms along the way.

In wrath of the lich king, Sholazar Basin (pronounced SHOL-uh-zarh) is primordial world of plant life and animals, thick with vegetation, hot springs, and steam vents. This has brought the infamous Hemet Nesingwary there to study and write another book. In the upcoming expansion, Nesingwary will be relocated to the Basin and leaving his expedition legacy to his son, Nesingwary junior.

Sholazar Basin is very similar in design to Un’Goro Crater. This crater is located between two deserts, Tanaris and Silithus. A flight path is availale to both Horde and Alliance and is located at the Marshall camp in the north. Probably one of the more aggravating but funny events that happens there frequently is getting stepped on by the giant roaming Devilsaurs who despite their size, can sneak up on you.

Not much is known about the history of Un’Goro save for a description by a Geologist Larksbane in Silithus who describes the “Crater as being home to the Titans” [ Un'Goro Crater ]. The site has an amazing array of pop-culture references –everything from Nintendo games to the Beatles -- which makes doing the quests out there humorous and fun.

The zone is also great for mining thorium and herbs, as well as leatherworking. PvPers might find that they can climb the hillside in the far Northeast corner to get out of the way for other players to cook and rest. The view of the zone from this spot is wonderful.

Un’Goro is actually based on the real life The Ngorongoro Conservation Area or NCA located in [ Tanzania ].

ROLE PLAYING TIPS
Timers and Dice

In patch 2.4.3 came the new time management features such as the clock. The clock shows you the official server time as well as the time on your computer (your time zone). This is very helpful when schedule Role Playing times or dungeon crawls.

The other item Blizzard added was the stop watch.The stop watch feature opens some interesting possibilities for role-play as well as guild events. For example, organized races can now be officially timed with the winning times posted or stated on forums for celebration, trophies, or more. In role play, the timers can be used if you were to duel unarmed (hand-to-hand) as a sort of “boxing ring” and timed the rounds.

Most role-players use a sort of story-based style, using exclusively emotes and typing/writing what their character is doing, saying, and feeling. However, the idea of using in-game devices such as timers and dice to accentuate role-played activities and combats isn’t really that new.

Dice rolling, why not?

If you have played D&D or played text-based MMOs, you probably are familiar with the idea of adding in a d20 dice roll to see if you hit or missed something. Leaving it completely to chance and then role-play out whatever that result is even if you lose. You can also use the in-game randomizer (rolling the dice) to help with outcomes of role-played card games, or any other events that may require an element of chance— something that such characters as gamblers, rogues, or privateers would use. (Please note we are talking about purposes of story development and not using the in-game dice to promote casinos and gambling which violate the game’s user agreement)

Of course in Warcraft, the slash-duel command makes this automatic if you duel someone outside of a city. However, what if you were role-playing out a duel with pistols in a tavern bar brawl? Or were playing for stakes in a poker hand? role-playing the outcome of a dart board game? Or engaging in a simple coin toss? Maybe a randomizer would help the highest score win the best out of five. You can also have one person serve as the DM, or third party who does all the rolling to guide the outcome.

The author at [ Errant Dreams ]calls this “using fortune” and writes,

“Chance lends excitement and uncertainty to a game. It helps to keep players on the edge of their seat. It's just like watching a good thriller - if you know what's going to come next, it's much less exciting.

But with everything, just like using any slash command in the game, use in moderation and don’t spam people in public areas.

Have fun everyone!

Music:
All music from the game.